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Eric Pollard
Eric Charles Pollard (ne Pollock) is a long running character in Emmerdale, having appeared continuously since 1986. He first appeared in Episode 1088 (30th September 1986). He has lied and swindled his way all through his life and has conned virtually every resident of Emmerdale since his arrival, and has been a very ruthless villain, and a bit of a spiv. One of his biggest story arcs is surrounding the death of his second wife Elizabeth Pollard on the night of the plane crash in December 1993. For years Pollard was suspected of killing her as she had something on him to get him jailed. Eric has mellowed in recent years. He now runs The Grange B&B in Main Street. After Alan Turner left in early June 2013 due to the sad death of the actor Richard Thorp, Eric Pollard is now the shows longest serving current continuous character, having been in the show for 32 years. He remains in the show as of 30 September 2018, and is played by veteran actor Chris Chittell. On the 30th September 2016, Chris Chittell celebrated 30 years in the show, and is the longest serving cast member. On the 17th December 2017 he overtook Alan Turner as the longest serving continuous character ever. Backstory Eric Charles Pollock was born on the 11th June 1945. As a child he was nicknamed "Pansy Pollard". On his 16th birthday in June 1961, he had tea with his aunt. He married his first wife Eileen in 1964 aged 19. They had many years together. In March 1978, Eileen gave birth to a son, Edward Pollock but Edward was stillborn. He left hera year or two later, then remarried having never divorced Eileen. He changed his name to Pollard, so that Eileen could not trace him. In 1981 he had an affair with Lydia Holloway. Eric left Lydia when she was pregnant and stole £20'000 from her. He never knew she was pregnant at the time. A son, David was born on the 17th September 1982. Lydia later remarried. Eric never knew he had a son for the next 24 years. Eric built a career in the auctioneering business. He was known to do dodgy deals and was a bit of a Del Boy Trotter type. In September 1986, Pollard was to become the new boss at Hotten Auction Market. A week before Eric took the post, Joe Sugden told Sandie Merrick that her new boss "is a fellow named Pollard who is very experienced". 1986-1992 'Arrival in Beckindale' Eric arrived in Beckindale in September 1986 as the new boss of Sandie Merrick. Sandie soon saw Eric as bit of a stern boss. He was the auctioneer at Hotten Cattle Market. Eric was a mate of Alan Turner. He proved himself to be very unpopular and him and Sandie crossed swords. In 1987 he lost his position as manager of Hotten Market thanks to Sandie Merrick. Sandie found that Eric Pollard was fiddling the accounts and told Joe, who sacked Eric. Eric launched a hate campaign against Sandie by slashing her boyfriend Phil Pearce's tyres and breaking into Mill Cottage, where she and Phil lived. In late April 1987, Eric again broke into Mill Cottage one night and threatened Sandie with a poker whilst drunk, saying she has ruined his life. He however then gave her a sob story and she drove him home. In June 1987 he befriended Marian Rosettii nee Wilks and her husband Paolo Rosetti and tried to burgle his house, of which Paolo chased him. Paolo accidentally shot himself with a gun but never knew it was Eric who was the thief. Once Eric found out Paolo had been taken to hopsital after being shot, Eric left Beckindale for a few months. When he returned, he made advances on Dolly Skilbeck. Eric also became friends with Phil Pearce. When Sandie told Phil that Eric threatened her with a poker, Phil almost attacked Eric in The Woolpack. Phil and Eric soon forgot this. In January 1988, Eric found that Home Farm was up for sale and tried to do deals with Alan Turner but Turner rebuffed him. In April 1988, Eric applied for his old job as an auctioneer but lost out to Sandie Merrick, startng another feud. In May 1988 Eric and Phil Pearce sold fake antiques to people and then they blackmailed Nick Bates after he said he had taken some of the money which was dropped by two robbers in a robbery on the post office. In December 1988, Eric suggested to Phil that he burgles Home Farm. In January 1989, Phil was jailed but Eric yet again escaped the long arm of the law. In 1990, Eric finds romance with Debbie Wilson and they soon become engaged. However, Debbie turns the tables on Eric when she leaves with £2,000 and valuable goods that Eric gave to her to start an antiques shop, to which he intended to divert goods from Hotten Market. Unfortunately the money wasn't Eric's, it belonged to Charlie. In 1991 Eric set his sights on the Mill but lost out to Kathy Merrick. When Kathy wed Chris Tate Frank bought the Mill for them. Eric then set his sights on Elizabeth Feldmann. She thought she had changed him from his corrupt sort and they wed at Beckindale church in Episode 1701 (6th October 1992). Elizabeth's son Michael was disapproving of his new stepfather. 1992-2008 In 1993 Eric committed cheque fraud and framed Michael Feldmann. Also he stole a Roman bracelet. Elizabeth soon found out about her husbands deception. She then realised what a swine she married. At the end of December 1993, Elizabeth said she was going to the police to tell all about the cheque fraud and knew that she would go down for having knowledge on the crime but said it would be worth it to see Eric go down. She also claimed she knew about the stolen Roman bracelet. She went round to Demdyke Row to babysit her granddaughter Alica Bates and was later pursued by Pollard. He then said he had been going through her things and she stormed out of the house. Then disaster struck, an Eastern European airliner crashed on the village and fireballs rained down from the sky. Elizabeth was killed in the disaster and was later found dead in a field. Her son Michael was convinced that Eric had murdered her and used the crash as a cover up. Eric was happy to set up a memorial for the plane crash but then stole the funds. In June 1994, Michael left the village as during a heated argument, he injured Eric, knocked him out and thought he killed him, so fled the village. Also, Michael's theories about his mother's death were never proven. When Michael left, Eric was pleased that the thorn in his side had gone and he felt he could move on with his life. He carried on his dodgy deals, taking advantage of simpleton Sam Dingle and later went into partnership with Kathy Tate at the wine bar, formerly the old school. He went to the Phillipines in late 1996 and returned with a young Filipino woman in tow, Dee De La Cruz. They married in 1997. In 1998 Dee got sick of Pollard's business woes and left him, leaving him suicidal. In August 1998 he threatened to burn down the wine bar and himself but was talked out of it by Marlon. When a fire ripped through the Woolpack in November that year due to fireworks going off, eric was slightly injured as he walked past and tried to dodge a stray firework and threatened to sue the council. In 2000 he forgot about his bad boy persona and started to investigate how Rachel died and suspected she died at the hands of Graham Clark. When Graham kidnapped Kathy Tate and drove her to the edge of a cliff Eric rescued her while the car was teetering on the edge. The car then rolled down the cliffedge with Graham in it. The car then burst into flames killing Graham, ending his reign of terror. For once Eric was a hero. In 2001 he met Gloria Weaver. She seemed meek and mild but underneath was power hungry. They married in 2002. She was eager for the position of Councillor and even persuaded her own husband to sleep with a councillor called Glynis so she could secure her position. When the scandal came out Gloria was later posted to Westminster where she had an affair with 2008-present In 2008, Eric met Val Lambert and they married that year. In 2009, Eric closed down his factory and took over the running of the B&B. In December 2010, Eric started receiving Christmas cards signed "Elizabeth". This alarmed Eric as 17 years earlier, his wife died after a plane crashed on the village, and Eric was suspected of her murder and using the crash as a cover. The sender was Michael Feldmann, who wanted justice for his mother. Eric's foster daughter Amy Wyatt warned Michael to leave Eric alone but Michael told Amy if Eric wants to see the back of him it will cost him thousands. Pollard worried he would be rumbled and told Val what happened that night all those years ago in 1993. He said how Elizabeth stormed out of Demdyke Row and was going to grass him up to Frank Tate over a stolen Roman bracelet and also had tried to get him sent down for cheque fraud. Eric said he went after her that night and chased her across a field but the tree nearby burst into flames and the sky lit up as plane wreckage fell from the sky. Eric said he went back a minute later and saw she was dead. (Or could he have left her to die, we all know what a good liar Eric is). Eric admitted he felt like he wanted to kill her but the plane beat him to it. Val Pollard stood up for Eric and went to obtain the coroners reports which proved Elizabeth died of injuries sustained in the crash. Michael admitted defeat, and was told by Eric to keep the money he gave him. So in early January 2011 Michael drove off into the night. Eric supported his wife Val when she later found that she had contracted AIDS after a one night stand with Ian Chamberlain. In August 2015, Val died in the helicopter crash, one of the biggest tragedies to hit the village since the plane crash. A huge headstone was made for Val. Eric tried to implicate Chrissie White as she had indirectly caused the crash after she set fire to Robert's car, causing a gas canister to hit the helicopter. Lawrence White offered Eric compensation to stay quiet but Eric kept badgering. Lawrence had heard all about Eric's deceased wife Elizabeth and how she died in suspicious circumstances and used this against him. Eric kept quiet. In mid 2017, Eric begun dating Faith Dingle. Memorable info Birthday: 11 June 1945 Full Name: Eric Charles Pollard One of the biggest story arcs in Emmerdale history is the death of Elizabeth Pollard in the plane crash in December 1993. She wanted Eric to go to jail for framing Michael Feldmann, her son. Eric stole the incriminating documents about the Roman bracelet and when Elizabeth went to tell Frank Tate, an Eastern European airliner crashed on the village. Elizabeth died that night after injury from wreckage. Many suspected that Eric used the plane crash to cover up her murder. This resurfaced in 2003 on the 10th anniversary of the plane crash and again in 2010. In January 2011, the autopsy proved she had died from wreckage. Michael Feldmann left Eric alone. This yet again resurfaced in October 2015 when Lawrence White said he heard about Elizabeth and used it against him if he carried on giving evidence against Chrissie Sugden. Did Eric play a part in her death? Autopsy records show she died from wreckage, but did he leave her to die? We may never know the exact truth about what happened to Elizabeth on that dark December night. Over 20 years later, some people still like to remind Eric about Elizabeth. In mid December 2017, Eric overtook Alan Turner's tenure as the longest serving continuous Emmerdale character ever. Turner was in the show for 31 years, 2 months and 3 weeks. Quotes "Morning. You are?" - First line to Sandie Merrick Family Spouse Eileen Pollard (1964-1994), Elizabeth Feldmann (1992-1993), Dee Pollard (1997-1999), Gloria Weaver (2002-2003), Val Pollard (2008-) Children Edward Pollock (1978), David Metcalfe (1981) Grandchildren Amba Metcalfe Step children Michael Feldmann, Paul Lambert, Sharon Lambert Aunts 1 aunt See also *Eric Pollard - list of appearances Gallery Emmie pollard first scene.png|Eric's first scene. Emmie eric first episode.png|Eric arrives in the Woolpack for the first time in September 1986. emmie pollard 1988.png|Pollard in February 1988. emmie eric feb 1988 in pubbie.png|Eric saying "Well, all stopping for the big vote?" about Home Farm auction in February 1988. emmie eric 1988.png|Eric in May 1988. Emmie eric 2015.png|Pollard in 2014. Emmie pollard 2018.png|Pollard in January 2018. Category:Emmerdale characters. Category:Current characters. Category:Characters first seen in 1986. Category:Pollard family. Category:Auctioneers. Category:Antique dealers. Category:Chefs. Category:Emmerdale businessmen. Category:Emmerdale bad boys. Category:1945 births. Category:1964 marriages. Category:1992 marriages. Category:1997 marriages. Category:2002 marriages. Category:2008 marriages. Category:Residents of The Grange B&B. Category:Residents of The Barn. Category:Villains. Category:Spivs Category:Emmerdale - Revenge (1998) Characters